University of Cambridge

Cambridge

Cambridge 2016 Postgraduate Entry

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Honestly? My impression is that the course is often used a "back up" option in case applicants don't get into their preferred MPhils, and that even if the numbers have changed to higher competition then that's probably true for all courses and it's still relatively easier than many other courses to get into. Anecdotally of course as there are no later numbers.

"My impression is that the course is often used a "back up" option." I am curious to know what you are basing this "impression" on? Besides, how come Cambridge does not publish updated intake ratio data for the upcoming admissions like Oxford?

University of Cambridge

Cambridge

Reply 1501

BruceWaynee

Original post by Alexander I

Google cambridge postgraduate admission stats and one of the links has factual info on the 13-14 year. For development studies approx 1 out of 3 applicants are given an offer .

Reply 1502

sj27

Original post by Alexander I

Because of a number of people I have known or who have mentioned here that they have applied for other courses, mainly economics or politics, as first choices but also dev stud in case they didn't get in; and people I know who actually did dev stud because they were rejected from other preferred courses. I said it was anecdotal, remember.
As for the actual data, suggest you ask BoGS why they haven't updated it?

Reply 1503

Camilli

Original post by tj23

I don't think there is but I think you can guess some information from the table. Many of those Colleges which have a high acceptance % are either of allocator type A (which means they are picked only by very few people as preference and get filled up by pooling) or they seem to take roughly as many students as they have been named as a preference, e.g. take Clare Hall (though, of course, I cannot deduce with certainty that the applicants actually did name them as preference, it might have just been pooled people and a coincidence ). I think for Colleges with a high % of acceptance the undergrads are not the majority of their offers.

Now Google has gone all weird for me and I can't even find the allocator codes (A, B, or C) that were snapping into place a few days ago. Decent link, anyone?

And is there a similar table for Oxford?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1504

94claire

Original post by chrisones1993

I have applied for the Mphil Criminological Research. Submitted my application in the middle of December. Been on "Awaiting approval from BoGS" for 6 days now!

Did you have an interview?

Reply 1505

94claire

Did you have an interview?

Reply 1506

Anthro123

Original post by sj27

I think these are the stats for 2015/16. I might have completely misread the numbers on page 14 for the MPhil courses, but they seem to suggest that development studies was harder to get into than economics and politics.

http://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.2016.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/graduate_admissions_report_2015_16_0.pdf

Reply 1507

LeeGend

Original post by themarchgirl

Have any English Studies MPhil applicants heard anything yet?

Nope but I only finished my application 30/12. What strand have you gone for? :smile:

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Reply 1508

MG_1995

Hi! I'm an offer holder (MPhil in theoretical linguistics) and I can't figure out how the college admission system works for graduate students. I guess it's different for undergrads, isn't it? I was just wondering how colleges (say, first choice) select their graduate members. Is their decision based on academic merit or pragmatic matters (such as availability etc.)? Or both??

Reply 1509

Alexander I

Original post by Anthro123

These are the stats for 2015/16. I might have completely misread the numbers on page 14 for the MPhil courses, but they seem to suggest that development studies was harder to get into than economics and politics.

http://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.2016.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/graduate_admissions_report_2015_16_0.pdf

In the case of the MPhil in Development Studies, what is the difference between 'Research' and '1 year'? The Centre of Development Studies offers two courses: the MPhil and the PhD. Does this mean that by 'research' they refer to the PhD and by '1 year' the MPhil?

MPhil in Development Studies 467 - 133 - 52 (application, offer, confirmation). Till date, 28,5 % of the applicants received an offer and 39,1 % of all those offers were confirmed, meaning that overall 11,1 % of all applicants were admitted to the course.

This means that the course is very competitive indeed, unlike what many have claimed here previously.

Reply 1510

BruceWaynee

Original post by Alexander I

1) Research = PhD and Year 1= MPhil
2) You should care about the percentage of offers that are handed out. In this course, as i said, approx 1 out of 3 applicants are given an offer. The fact that only 40% of those offers are confirmed implies that either applicants preferred some other course/uni over MPhil Development Studies, or they did not meet their conditions.

Reply 1511

tj23

Original post by Camilli

You can find it in the admission statistics (e.g. 2013) http://www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/admissions-statistics

Oxford publishes admission statistics for the Colleges but I have only found statistics about offers (nothing about preferences etc)

Reply 1512

sj27

Original post by Anthro123

Politics has a minimum of a first class for admission whereas dev stud has a 2:1, so the pool of potential applicants is already whittled to begin with. The faculties also offer more than one MPhil and those data are by faculty not by MPhil. Within each faculty some courses are also easier than others to get into. (Economics and finance under the Eco faculty is also often used as a backup option by finance applicants to Judge, btw.) Nevertheless some people appear easily offended, and no course in Cam is "easy" to get into (I was clear to be relative), so I'm not going to bother continuing here. I wish everyone here the best of luck for their applications and that they are happy with their choice once at Cam.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1513

Camilli

Original post by tj23

OK, so the 2013 book has it-- I was looking at all the other ones. :redface:

The categories strike me as a little unevenly applied-- I don't know if there's some weird algorithm afoot, or just politics. Jesus, for example, is listed as a "C" along with Trinity and Kings, but nevertheless accepted 84 of the 93 research applications that were sent their way. Caius, on the other hand, is a "B" but took only 72 out of 143. Perhaps applicants game the system, and Caius was so unpopular in 2012 that they got swamped by bottom-feeders in 2013. Or am I misunderstanding the "papers received" column?

My original question was about colleges like Jesus-- if 80 of those 84 were BA and MPhil alums of the college, that would make breaking into the queue a dicey proposition for anyone else.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1514

tj23

Original post by Camilli

OK, so the 2013 book has it-- I was looking at all the other ones. :redface:

The categories strike me as a little unevenly applied-- I don't know if there's some weird algorithm afoot, or just politics. Jesus, for example, is listed as a "C" along with Trinity and Kings, but nevertheless accepted 84 of the 93 research applications that were sent their way. Caius, on the other hand, is a "B" but took only 72 out of 143. Perhaps applicants game the system, and Caius was so unpopular in 2012 that they got swamped by bottom-feeders in 2013.

My original question was about colleges like Jesus-- if 80 of those 84 were BA and MPhil alums of the college, that would make breaking into the queue a dicey proposition for anyone else.

I don't know how they decide which college belongs to which allocator type but it's probably not for just one year and the colleges might also have some influence there.

I think you worry too much about the undergrads of the colleges. I don't have any relevant statistics at hand but from my impression the majority of graduates haven't been undergrads at the college (but I'm not so sure about the MPhils). For an individual applicant it's obviously easier to get into his/her old college but there are also some undergrads and MPhils who like to see another college, even if they've been at Jesus :wink:

so I guess it evens out a bit. And Jesus, for example, seems to take roughly the number of applicants that actually name them as a preference, and that are probably not just former undergrads

Reply 1515

username2228735

Original post by Camilli

OK, so the 2013 book has it-- I was looking at all the other ones. :redface:

Well, I'll be a member of Jesus College in the Fall and I did my undergrad at another university.

Reply 1516

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by MG_1995

I can't figure out how the college admission system works for graduate students.

Basically Colleges accept graduates on the basis of diversity, ie they like to have a balance between Masters and PhD students (which varies a little by College) and they like a range of nationalities and subjects in particular.

There is a convention that a College will always accept someone who has been an undergrad member of the College, so there are a few places taken, then it is more or less first come, first served, unless you happen to be just the 20th applicant, but the 10th who is English and studying for an English PhD. Similarly, a College might appear closed, but if you are a mature Jamaican ASNAC PhD and they feel they have space for another mature student, carribbean student, ASNAC or PhD, you might get a place.

For the eternal pessimists, if you have an academic offer and have met all other conditions, but your file is passed from College to College with no offers, in the end, BoGS tells a College to take you - I believe it is usually your original preferred College, but I also understand it rarely gets to this stage.

Reply 1517

username1106895

Original post by themarchgirl

Have any English Studies MPhil applicants heard anything yet?

I haven't got an offer but mine has gone though to BoGS and it says the degree committee/ dept are satisfied with my application.

Reply 1518

username1106895

Hi everyone, sorry if this has been asked 1000 times and is really annoying but I gennuinely have no idea how this process works. Am waiting on an application for MPhil in English studies and my status has changed from 'under consideration by degree comittee' to 'awaiting decision by board of graduate studies' with the note that the department are as yet satisfied with application.
Me question is this... how jubilant should I be? As far as I can see this final stage sounds like admin. But obviously I'm plagued with fear and self doubt. Does Board of grad studies mean it is likely i'm in?
Sorry if this is annoying / repetitive.